Hair shaping device

ABSTRACT

A hair shaping device comprises a main unit having a gripper, a head having a rod-shaped heating unit, and a drive unit configured to rotate said head around an axis of said heating unit, and wherein said head is provided, in an outer periphery of said heading unit, with a comb, and wherein said comb comprises a comb section, and said comb section is formed so as to slope, over the entire circumference of said comb, toward an axial direction of said heating unit with respect to a circumferential direction of said comb and to intersect with the axial direction of said heating unit.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates generally to hair shaping devices and, moreparticularly, to a hair shaping device which maintains hair, led througha comb, into the intended shape through heat released by a heating unit.

2. Description of the Related Art

There has been eyelash shaping devices for shaping eyelashes, forinstance, disclosed in Japanese Registered Utility Model No. 3042723 andJapanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-219571. The eyelashshaping device disclosed in the former document comprises a main unithaving a handle, a spiral brush located in the tip side of the mainunit, and a heating element that is spirally coiled in parallel to theinside of the brush. The eyelash shaping device disclosed in the latterdocument comprises a main unit casing that also functions as a gripper,and a head that is located in one end of the main unit casing, and thena heater for heating eyelashes is located in the head. Then, in aperiphery of the head, a first shaping face and a second shaping faceare located so as to face each other for shaping eyelashes, and then acomb unit for combing eyelashes is provided in each of the first andsecond shaping faces. In this eyelash shaping device, a user combseyelashes using the comb unit, and thereby eyelashes are adjusted intothe intended shape and the adjusted eyelashes are maintained throughheat released by the heater.

Incidentally, in the conventional eyelash shaping devices of theabove-mentioned documents, a user combs eyelashes using the brush or thehead, and heats the eyelashes through the heating element or the heater,and then in this state, the user further curves the eyelashes whilemoving the user's hand holding the eyelash shaping device (or whilemoving the user's wrist), and thereby the eyelashes are adjusted intothe intended shape.

Therefore, the conventional eyelash shaping devices are configured toadjust the eyelashes into the intended shape through moving the user'swrist, that is, through technology and operation of the user, and thework efficiency for the adjustment is not very high. Then, the eyelashesare adjusted while the same part of the head or the brush (the heatingelement) contacts the eyelashes. For this reason, the temperature of thepart reduces easily, and the heat is insufficiently supplied to theeyelashes, and the curled shape is hardly maintained, and thereby thereis a possibility that it becomes difficult to adjust the eyelashes intothe intended shape (that is, the ability to shape hair is decreased).

In addition, because the user adjusts the eyelashes into the intendedshape through moving the hand and/or the wrist, each part in the curvedeyelashes may be adjusted into a different shape, and therebynonuniformity may be generated. Therefore, for instance, it is difficultfor the user to curve the eyelashes at the same bending angle or tocurve the eyelashes so that the bending angle is continuously changed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a hair shapingdevice, which can easily adjust hair and can improve the ability toshape hair, and then can improve the work efficiency.

A hair shaping device of the present invention comprises a main unithaving a gripper, a head having a rod-shaped heating unit, and a driveunit configured to rotate said head around an axis of said heating unit,and wherein said head is provided, in an outer periphery of said headingunit, with a comb, and wherein said comb comprises a comb section. Saidcomb section is formed so as to slope, over the entire circumference ofsaid comb, toward an axial direction of said heating unit with respectto a circumferential direction of said comb and to intersect with theaxial direction of said heating unit.

In this configuration, a clearance gap in said comb section can have asloping shape, and therefore a user can easily shape hair using the hairshaping device, and furthermore said head can come into contact withhair while said head is rotated. Thus, the hair shaping device canimprove the ability to shape hair, and then can improve the workefficiency.

In this hair shaping device, preferably, said comb section has a spiralshape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described in furtherdetails. Other features and advantages of the present invention willbecome better understood with regard to the following detaileddescription and accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 is an oblique drawing of a hair shaping device according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded oblique drawing of the hair shaping deviceaccording to said embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an oblique drawing of a head in the hair shaping deviceaccording to said embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an oblique drawing of a head in a state where a comb has beendetached, in the hair shaping device according to said embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 5 is a front view of said head in the state where said comb hasbeen detached, in the hair shaping device according to said embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a plane view of said comb in the hair shaping device accordingto said embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a plane view of the modification of said comb in the hairshaping device according to said embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below referringto figures.

As shown in FIG. 1, a hair shaping device of the present embodimentcomprises: a main unit 1 that has a power source built-in; a head 14that has a heating unit 4 and a comb 5; a drive unit 3 that isconfigured to rotate head 14; and a cap 10 that is detachably attachedto main unit 1 and covers head 14 (see FIG. 2). Then, the hair shapingdevice of the present embodiment is configured as a so-called eyelashcurler that adjusts eyelashes into a curved shape (a curled shape).

As shown in FIG. 1, main unit 1 is formed into a cylindrical shape, andis provided with an operation unit 6 for operating the performance,which is exposed on a casing. The casing is formed with a battery cover12 in which a battery 13 is stored, and a housing 11 in which operationunit 6 is located. Then, head 14 is located in one end of housing 11,and battery cover 12 is detachably located in the other end of housing11. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, main unit 1 encloses battery 13 as thepower source, a circuit unit 2 through which battery 13 is electricallyconnected to heating unit 4 and drive unit 3, and the drive unit 3 whichcomprises a motor 31 as a drive source. Hereinafter, an axial directionof the cylindrical-shaped main unit 1 will be simply described as anaxial direction Ax.

Operation unit 6 comprises a switch 61 for operating the heat caused byheating unit 4, and a switch 62 for operating the rotation caused bydrive unit 3. Switch 61 is slidably provided as a slide switch, andswitch 62 is tiltably provided as a rocker switch. Then, when a useroperates switch 61, ON-OFF of the heating action can be switched throughcircuit unit 2. Then, when the user operates switch 62, ON-OFF of therotation can be switched through circuit unit 2, or a forward rotationand a reverse rotation of a rotation direction can be switched throughcircuit unit 2. In response to the operation in operation unit 6,circuit unit 2 is configured to perform ON-OFF operation of heating unit4 and ON-OFF operation of motor 31 (that is, a rotation action ofheating unit 4), and to switch the forward rotation and the reverserotation with respect to the rotation direction of heating unit 4.

Drive unit 3 mainly comprises motor 31 as the drive source, and a drivetransmission unit 32 that transfers a driving force of motor 31 to head14. Motor 31 has a rotating shaft that extends along the axial directionAx and corresponds with an axis of main unit 1, and then drivetransmission unit 32 has for instance a planetary speed reducermechanism. Then, drive transmission unit 32 outputs the rotation driveof motor 31 to head 14 so that a rotation axis of head 14 correspondswith the rotating shaft of the motor 31, and then drive unit 3 isconfigured to rotate heating unit 4 of head 14 around an axis of heatingunit 4. As explained above, ON-OFF of the rotation action can beswitched through switch 62.

As shown in FIG. 3, head 14 comprises heating unit 4 for heatingeyelashes and comb 5 for combing eyelashes, and is provided so as toproject along the axial direction Ax from one end of main unit 1.

Heating unit 4 has a heater wire 41 built-in (see FIG. 2), and anelectrical power is supplied from battery 13 to heater wire 41 viacircuit unit 2 in response to ON operation of switch 61, and therebyheater wire 41 releases heat. Then, the electrical power supplied frombattery 13 is cut in response to OFF operation of switch 61, and therebyheater wire 41 stops releasing heat. Heating unit 4 heats hairs by meansof using the heat released by heater wire 41.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, heating unit 4 projects along the axialdirection Ax from one end of main unit 1 and is formed into a rod shape.Then, heating unit 4 is rotated around a shaft center of the rod shapethrough the rotation drive of drive unit 3. In addition, heating unit 4has three contact surfaces 41 a for heating eyelashes in the entireperipheral surface of the rod shape (an outer surface around the shaftcenter), and heats eyelashes coming into contact with contact surfaces41 a.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, heating unit 4 has a polygonal shape in whenviewed from the axial direction Ax (when viewed from the front), andspecifically, each corner (apex) of the polygonal shape is rounded off.In the present embodiment, heating unit 4 has almost a triangular shapein when viewed from the front, and each corner (apex) of the triangularshape is rounded off. For this reason, three plane surfaces function asthree contact surfaces 41 a of heating unit 4.

As shown in FIG. 3, comb 5 is formed into a cylindrical shape having thebottom, and comprises a comb section 51 as a periphery. Then, heatingunit 4 is located within comb 5, and the tip of heating unit 4 iscovered by the bottom of comb 5. As shown in FIG. 6, comb section 51 hasa shaft center that corresponds with the rotation center of heating unit4, and is formed into a spiral shape, and is located so as to coverthree contact surfaces 41 a of heating unit 4. In other words, combsection 51 is formed so as to slope, over the entire circumference ofcomb 5, toward the axial direction Ax with respect to a circumferentialdirection (a rotation circle) and to intersect with the axial directionAx.

Then, a space (a clearance gap) of the spiral comb section 51 located inthe axial direction Ax functions as a lead-in groove 52 for leadingeyelashes in contact surfaces 41 a of heating unit 4. That is, comb 5 isprovided with the lead-in groove 52 formed into a spiral shape.

Comb 5 opens at one end, and a cylindrical member is located in theopening one end of comb 5. Then, one end of main unit 1 is attached toan inner periphery of the cylindrical member, and thereby comb 5 issupported by main unit 1. A long supporting member is located betweenthe opening one end and the bottom of comb 5, and extends along theaxial direction Ax, and supports comb section 51 from an inner peripheryside. Therefore, in comb 5, the spiral shape of comb section 51 and adistance from the bottom to the opening one end are maintained by thesupporting member. Further, the supporting member can prevent comb 5from changing shape when comb 5 contacts a biological surface.

As explained above, heating unit 4 has three contact surfaces 41 a overthe entire circumference of the circumferential direction, and then onecontact surface 41 a contacting hairs (eyelashes) can be sequentiallychanged through the rotation of heating unit 4. Therefore, the hairshaping device can prevent the conventional problem that eyelashes areadjusted using only the same part of heating unit and thereby thetemperature of the same part reduces and heat is insufficiently suppliedto the eyelashes. Then, the user can easily adjust hair (can easily curlhair) using the hair shaping device, and the hair shaping device caneasily improve the convenience, such as the work efficiency of theadjustment.

Then, comb section 51 in comb 5 is formed into a spiral shape, andthereby, in contact surfaces 41 a of heating unit 4, a part exposedthrough lead-in groove 52 of comb section 51 is configured so as toslope with respect to a circumferential direction. Therefore, in aregion provided with comb section 51, lead-in groove 52 is formed overthe entire circumference, and the user can easily lead hairs in lead-ingroove 52 and the hairs can easily come into contact with heating unit 4(the hairs can be easily heated) and the present hair shaping device canimprove the convenience.

In addition, heating unit 4 is formed into a polygonal shape when viewedfrom the axial direction Ax (when viewed from the front), and therebyeach contact surface 41 a has a plane surface and heating unit 4 caneasily come into contact with hairs through a surface contact. For thisreason, when coming into contact with hairs, the present hair shapingdevice can have a larger contact area with hair and can supply the heatto hairs more easily and can improve the work efficiency of theadjustment, compared with a heating unit which is formed into a circularshape when viewed from the front and which comes into contact with hairsthrough a point contact.

Although the present invention has been described with reference tocertain preferred embodiments, numerous modifications and variations canbe made by those skilled in the art without departing from the truespirit and scope of this invention, namely claims. For instance, asshown in FIG. 7, comb 5 may comprise a plurality of comb sections 51,each of which is formed into a circular ring shape, and a center of eachcircular ring corresponds with the rotation center. Then, the pluralityof circular-ring-shaped comb sections 51 may be located so as to slopein the axial direction Ax and to intersect with the axial direction Ax.Then, for instance, heating unit 4 may have a contact surface 41 a thatis formed over the entire circumference of the circumferential directionand that is formed into a circular shape in cross-section. Furthermore,for instance, both of heating unit 4 and comb 5 may be rotated. Then,the present hair shaping device is not limited to an eyelash curler.

1. A hair shaping device comprising: a main unit having a gripper; ahead having a rod-shaped heating unit; and a drive unit configured torotate said head around an axis of said heating unit, wherein said headis provided, in an outer periphery of said heading unit, with a comb,wherein said comb comprises a comb section, said comb section beingformed so as to slope, over the entire circumference of said comb,toward an axial direction of said heating unit with respect to acircumferential direction of said comb and to intersect with the axialdirection of said heating unit.
 2. The hair shaping device as claimed inclaim 1, wherein said comb section has a spiral shape.